8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
incredible, August 9, 2001
This review is from: A Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado (Audio CD)
While Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil spearheaded the so-called Brazilian Tropicalista movement of the late 1960's with their unique blends of traditional Brazilian musics, the most extreme example of this movement were Os Mutantes, whos's fusion of musics made them sound like Burt Bacharach on acid grooving on an endless bossa nova with the Beatles. There's no good way to describe the brilliance of this band, so that's the best I can muster.
By late 1969, the brothers Baptista (Sergio-guitar,vocals; Arnaldo-keyboards,vocals,Rita's boyfriend) and vocalist Rita Lee had seen a quick collapse of the core of the movement they shared in, as founders Gil and Veloso were arrested and deported from Brazil. They were also on the government's hit list due to their obvious support of the movement, and by 1969, they had gone into hiding, living by themselves. The living was similar to that of Love in 1967-8 LA- decidedly weird and heavily drug laden.
From this period came "A Divinia Comedia...", their 3rd album, and by far, my favorite Mutantes lp. A glorious blend of schmaltzy bossa nova mixed with British invasion-esque sensibilities in 1 song, pure fuzzed/freaked out psychedelia the next, surrealist painting the following, the lp does not suffer from predictability, to be sure. Nor does it suffer from sub-par musicianship. Sergio shines on this lp, showing off his increasingly virtuoso guitar playing, whether on ballads like "Desculpe, Baby" or on out n out freak outs like the lp's finale, "Oh! Mulher Infiel," a sonic blitzkreig of scary proportions. Arnaldo's organ riffs throughout the lp range from sinister to perfectly tasty- all perfect within the context of the tracks.
From start to finish, "A Divinia Comedia.." is a topsy-turvy, pot-laden hallucination that comes across as sincere. An odd choice of words, I know, but this is an odd album. Rare are so obviously drug-influenced lps so well crafted and so well executed, but this is one of them.
My favorite of all Os Mutantes lps, (and I own all of them) "A Divinia Comedia" is a glorious product of its time and circumstance that holds more than its own versus the music of today.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Transition record, September 14, 2004
This review is from: A Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado (Audio CD)
This record marks the transition of the band from their psychedelic Sgt.Pepper's-like sound of their early years into the sound of the 70's, heavier and more complex. The band would end up doing prog-rock in the late 70's and the first signs of it can be seen in a couple of songs. Let me correct the translation of the title: "Ando meio Desligado" means "I've been a little disconected", but the band's English version for the title song, present in the album Technicolor, is "I've been a little spaced out", showing what the original title really meant. The highest moment of this record is the hilarious mockery of Janis Joplin "O meu refrigerador nao funciona" ("My refrigerator doesn't work"). Check it out!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great and, believe me, clean, January 8, 2004
This review is from: A Divina Comedia Ou Ando Meio Desligado (Audio CD)
This record is really something else. I'm not going to repeat every word written in the early reviews, they're all right in my opinion, but as a brazilian and born ten minute far from their neighborhood, I feel the duty to tell you, just for the most curious, that there were no drugs in this specific moment (1970). Ya, this extremely psychedelic and transcendent album was written and played with no external influence!!! Genious stuff!!!
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